Benue's literacy breakthrough steals spotlight as Nigeria wins global accolades in UK

By Tolu Temidire

Nigeria's literacy reform has received a major international endorsement, with Lord Alton of Liverpool hailing the country's adoption of the Jolly Phonics approach as a trailblazing model for improving reading skills across Africa.

Lord Alton gave the commendation during a two-day international forum held at the House of Lords, United Kingdom Parliament, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Jolly Phonics Programme organised by Universal Learning Solutions (ULS).

The forum, which opened under the theme, "England's Reading Revolution Goes Global: How Nigeria is Leading Literacy Reform Across Africa," brought together Members of the House of Lords, Members of Parliament, education policymakers, literacy experts and senior government officials from Nigeria to review the impact of evidence-based literacy instruction.

The celebration continued at Stationers' Hall with the theme, "20 Years of Impact in Transforming Literacy in Nigeria and Beyond," where the Executive Chairman of the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Grace Adagba, emerged as one of the leading speakers.

According to the Special Assistant on Corporate Communications and Community Engagements to the Executive Chairman of Benue SUBEB, Msughter Ataigbough, Dr. Adagba presented a paper entitled, "Driving Educational Excellence Through Foundational Literacy: The Benue State Jolly Phonics Experience," highlighting the remarkable progress recorded in the state.

She told participants that Benue recorded the highest performance in Nigeria in the 2025 Phonics Screening Exercise Word Reading Test (WRT), attributing the achievement to the commitment of Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia's administration to improving basic education through sustained teacher training and strategic school interventions.

"Benue's literacy journey demonstrates what is possible when government invests deliberately in foundational learning. Our performance in the Word Reading and Letter Tests has risen from an average of 0.4 per cent in 2019 and 8.1 per cent in 2021 to over 72 per cent in 2025," Dr. Adagba said.

She added that the state's success was driven by consistent implementation of the Jolly Phonics methodology, regular capacity building for teachers and focused interventions that have significantly improved pupils' reading abilities across public primary schools.

Earlier, Lord Alton praised Nigeria's commitment to evidence-based literacy reforms, describing the country's progress as an inspiration to other African nations and a clear demonstration that quality foundational education can be achieved through the right policies and sustained investment.

Other speakers at the international forum included the United Kingdom's former Minister of Schools, Sir Nick Gibb; Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf; Professor Pauline Dixon; Dr. Steve Humble MBE of Newcastle University; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jolly Learning Ltd, Chris Jolly; and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Learning Solutions, Gary Foxcroft.

They commended Nigeria's expanding literacy reforms and urged more African countries to adopt proven teaching methods to strengthen foundational learning.